School honors 4 killed in crash

Kayla Morelli (right) is comforted by friend Angie Roberson as mourners gather for a candlelight vigil for the Koontz family.

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

A candle is held up by a mourner as people gather for a candlelight vigil for the Koontz family in Brackettville, Texas on Tuesday, Apr. 16, 2013. Last Saturday, four members of the Koontz family were killed in a wreck involving a wrong-way truck driver on U.S. 90 near San Antonio. Parents Ken and Melissa Koontz and their daughters Madison and Marley lost their lives in the wreck. The only survivor was 13-year-old Zachary Koontz.

Choir sings at Kootnz memorial

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Mourners gather for a candlelight vigil for the Koontz family in Brackettville, Texas on Tuesday, Apr. 16, 2013. Last Saturday, four members of the Koontz family were killed in a wreck involving a wrong-way truck driver on U.S. 90 near San Antonio. Parents Ken and Melissa Koontz and their daughters Madison and Marley lost their lives in the wreck. The only survivor was 13-year-old Zachary Koontz.

Balloon relesae at the Knoonz memorial

Photo By Courtesy Photo

Madison Koontz.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

Kenneth Koontz and his daughter Marley Koontz.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

Marley Koontz and her mother Melissa Koontz.

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mySA.com: Go to the online story for more photos of the balloon release and vigil.

BRACKETTVILLE — A strong and unusually unrelenting wind took most of the candlelight out of a candlelight vigil Tuesday night for four members of the Koontz family killed in a crash over the weekend.

Undeterred, the several hundred mourners raised their cellphones just steps from the family's two-story stone home, once the commanding officer's quarters of the one-time Army garrison Fort Clark Springs.

Three days after the accident, lights could still be seen through the windows of the house; a pair of flip-flops still waited by the front door.

The vigil capped another day of mourning for this tight-knit, dusty-dry community that began saying goodbye Tuesday to Melissa and Ken Koontz, and their daughters Madison and Marley — all killed Saturday evening when their SUV was struck by a semi that, according to police, was going the wrong way on U.S. 90 in San Antonio.

Earlier in the afternoon Tuesday, students, teachers and friends at Brackett High School released hundreds of blue and white balloons into the clear, blue sky.

“Let's send these balloons straight to heaven,” Principal Kevin Newsom said as a brisk wind quickly carried them up and away from a school campus rocked by the deaths of two popular classmates, Madison and Marley.

Madison, 18, was planning to enter Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in the fall. Marley, 15, was a freshman at Brackett High.

Also on Tuesday, the Texas Senate adjourned in memory of the Koontz family. State Sen. Carlos Uresti, whose district includes Brackettville, requested that his colleagues keep the family in their thoughts.

Before the balloon release, the high school choir sang a song that choir member Marisol Gomez wrote after a Sunday prayer service at the school.

“I express myself through art and writing, and my mom told me it would be easier if I wrote down what I was feeling,” said Gomez, a junior at the school.

She brought the poem to school Monday and showed it to her choir mates. They started playing with melodies and, with help from choir director Marvin Willis, crafted the piece titled “Our Angel.”

It goes, in part:

Angel, angel/Help me grieve/Angel, angel/Please don't leave/Lead me to the light/For I seem to have lost my sight.

After learning about the girls' deaths, their cast mates initially voted to participate in the next level of the competition, Saturday's regionals in Brenham.

“But last night, some of them started having second thoughts and eventually they decided not to continue,” said Lisa Conoly, the group's instructor.

Instead, the students will perform the play as a fundraiser for Zachary next week. Details are being worked out.

The troupe also has been invited to serve on the honor crew during the UIL one-act play finals in Austin next month.

A fund has been established for family expenses and for Zachary at The Bank & Trust, PO Box 385, Brackettville TX 78832. Contributions should be made to Bank & Trust Koontz Memorial Fund” and should specify account No. 3540332 in the memo line.